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Protesters imitate a three-finger salute from movie "The Hunger Games", during a rally at Mong Kok. Photo: Reuters
Hong Kong

After Mong Kok Occupy clearance, students vow to target government buildings

In wake of the Mong Kok clearance, they say government buildings are now in their sights

Occupy Central
Chris Lau
Joyce Ng
Clifford Lo
Danny Mok
Chris Lau,Joyce Ng,Clifford Lo,Samuel Chan,Danny MokandPeter So
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The Federation of Students has threatened to set its sights on government buildings in response to the police clearance of the Occupy camp in Mong Kok following violent overnight clashes.

"The further actions include a possibility of some escalations pointed at government-related buildings or some government-related departments," federation core member Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok said yesterday.

A possible target is said to be a footbridge leading to the government headquarters in Admiralty.

At a meeting on Wednesday, pan-democrats and Occupy founders had advocated ending the occupation.

A court hearing yesterday left a number of student leaders and activists unable to return to the cleared protest site in Kowloon, as the Occupy movement for universal suffrage entered Day 61.

Thirty-one defendants - including Scholarism's Joshua Wong Chi-fung, the student federation's Lester Shum and the League of Social Democrats' "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung and Raphael Wong Ho-ming - faced charges at Kowloon City Court, mostly obstructing bailiffs.

This Mong Kok jeweller reopened with special offers to tempt customers - but without much luck. Photo: Edward Wong
All disputed a condition, sought by the prosecution, that they be barred from re-entering an area in Mong Kok bound by Fa Yuen Street to the east, Dundas Street to the south, Shanghai Street to the west and Mong Kok Road to the north. They said it covered a wider area than specified in previous injunctions granted by the High Court.

Shum's lawyer Alvin Yeung said it was "disproportionate".

Leung, representing himself, said his freedom was reduced by five-fold as the new injunction area had increased by five times.

Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen ruled all cases in the prosecution's favour.

A total of 169 people were arrested during the two-day Mong Kok operation this week, including a 29-year-old customs officer on sick leave, who was held for possessing weapons and unlawful assembly in Nathan Road at about 11pm on Wednesday.

A police source said his rucksack was found to contain a 20cm-long flick knife and a 30cm-long wooden knife together with a respirator and a helmet with a label declaring, "fighting for true universal suffrage".

Police were also probing 10 online messaging platforms including HKGolden.com, WeChat and Line that were used to mobilise people to reoccupy the Mong Kok protest zone, according to another source.

Last night, more than 100 people gathered in Sai Yeung Choi Street South. An video photographer was pushed to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested. He was the second journalist arrested in the Mong Kok operation, with a Now TV engineer who was held for assaulting police released yesterday.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said if people stopped occupying the streets, "we won't need to consider using an injunction" and police to restore order.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Students vow to escalate protests
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